Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Government on Saturday transferred 77 IAS officers, resulting in a major shakeup of the bureaucracy in the state. This rejig included the transfer of district collectors, municipal commissioners and managing directors of electricity distribution companies.
What is surprising is the fact that the government transferred 26 senior IAS officers on June 9. This time around Anju Sharma, a 1991-batch officer and principal secretary, education department (higher and technical education), who has been appointed as head of the labour and employment department, is among the seniormost IAS officials who will be transferred. Sharma will replace HR Patel.
SJ Haider, who also belongs to the same batch as Sharma, was transferred to the education department and will replace Sharma. Patel will now take over as vice-chairman and managing director of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation and will replace Haider.
The IAS officers who spearheaded the restoration of electricity supply in areas badly hit by cyclone Tauktae have also been transferred. This includes Shweta Teotia, managing director of Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited (PGVCL). Dhimantkumar Vyas, additional collector of Gandhinagar will replace Teotia. Similarly, Yogesh Choudhary, managing director of Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited (DGVCL) has been transferred and appointed as District Development Officer of Bharuch.
Both Teotia and Choudhary had spearheaded teams that travelled to restore power in cyclone-hit areas recently. Among the district collectors who have been transferred include those of Mahisagar, Navsari, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Anand, Gir-Somnath, Mehsana, Kutch, Panchmahal, Dahod, Aravalli, Kheda, Junagadh, Amreli, Surendranagar, Chotta Udepur, Tapi and Bhavnagar districts. Ravi Shanakar, collector of Jamnagar district has been transferred as Chief Administrator of Statue of Unity.
Dr Sourabh Pardhi, collector of Junagadh will replace Shanakar. Dhavalkumar Patel, collector of Surat had been appointed as Municipal Commissioner of Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation and will hold additional charge of Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority (GUDA). Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation is expected to go to polls later this year.
The polls for the corporation which was scheduled to be held on April 18, 2021, was postponed by the State Election Commission due to the rise in Covid-19 cases. Collector of Mahisagar, RB Barad had been appointed as the new district collector of Vadodara. Remya Mohan, Collector of Rajkot has been transferred as mission director of the National Health Mission in Gandhinagar.
Arun Babu, District Development Officer of Ahmedabad, will be the new district collector for Rajkot. Ardra Agarwal, district collector of Navsari has been transferred and appointed as Commissioner of Relief and will hold the additional charge as Chief Executive Officer of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA).
Among the municipal commissioners who have been transferred, Udit Agarwal, municipal commissioner of Rajkot Municipal Corporation has been appointed as collector of Mehsana. Amit Arora, the district collector of Panchmahal will be the new municipal commissioner of Rajkot, while Vijay Kumar Kharadi, collector of Dahod has been appointed as municipal commissioner of Jamnagar. Tushar Sumera, municipal commissioner of Junagadh Municipal Corporation, has been appointed as collector of Botad.
RM Tanna, resident additional collector of Porbandar, is the new municipal commissioner of Junagadh. P Bharthi, state project director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and ex-officio Commissioner of Primary Education will take over as Commissioner of Labour in Gandhinagar. NN Dave, personal secretary to Speaker of Gujarat Assembly has been transferred as deputy municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad.
